


Hey brother

by LittleTurtle95



Series: You only live once (but do you?) [7]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King, The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Adrian Mellon Lives, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Alternate Universe - The Old Guard (Movie 2020) Fusion, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bill Denbrough Needs a Hug, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Found Family, Georgie Denbrough Lives, Hurt/Comfort, Immortality, M/M, Major Character Undeath, Richie Tozier is a Dork, Sassy Stanley Uris, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25914436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleTurtle95/pseuds/LittleTurtle95
Summary: When all the mob bosses of New York City are found dead one after the other for no apparent reason the Losers fear behind it there could be a bigger fish cleaning their way before running into business, and the team decides to investigate.In the meantime, on the news everyone is talking about the crew of a cable ship being found brutally murdered in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, no clues and no witnesses.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Bill Denbrough & Georgie Denbrough, Don Hagarty/Adrian Mellon, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Series: You only live once (but do you?) [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1843612
Comments: 17
Kudos: 50





	Hey brother

**Author's Note:**

> There is an attempt at middle English but I’m not an English mothertongue so it’s probably awkward. I did my research but tell me if something isn’t how it should be!  
> Thanks again to @reddiesupportblog for the awesome idea!
> 
> This work is part of a series, reading the first part will be enough to understand everything that happens.

_“What if I'm far from home?_

_Oh brother, I will hear you call._

_If the sky comes falling down, for you_

_There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do.”_

**_brother_ ** _, /ˈbrʌðə/, noun:_

_ > a man or boy in relation to other sons and daughters of his parents; _

_ > a man who is a member of the same group as another or who shares an interest with another or has a similar way of thinking to another; _

_ > a male numbered among the lay members of a religious organization that has a priesthood. _

* * *

_A group of fifteen cable ship workers has been found dead off the Atlantic Ocean in one of the most trafficked Oceanic paths from the UK to the USA._

_The men were working on submarine cable wires to allow the broadband…_

Someone switched off the TV and Adrian turned, ready to snap. He liked living with the rest of the team, but sometimes the group was really exhausting to deal with and they didn’t really have a sense of boundaries, except for maybe Mike or Stan on a good day. 

As soon as he saw who was holding the remote, his sassy comeback died on his lips.

It was Bill, looking far more stressed than they’d seen him in weeks. Adrian, like everyone else on the team, had learned to understand Bill’s mood swings and respected them. It was raining outside, and Adrian knew it didn’t help.

He had a newspaper in his hands and as he sat at the table he called “Everyone here, now!”

The small chatting in the room quieted down all of a sudden. Everyone stopped doing any sort of activity and in a bunch of seconds the small kitchen table was surrounded by a group of much armed deadly immortals that looked expectantly at their one thousand years old leader. Adrian knew the guys he was looking at had probably killed more people Adrian had ever even met in all his life, but at that moment they looked like lost ducklings waiting for their mom to tell them where they were headed, and he had to suppress a chuckle.

“It happened again. We’re going today. Eddie, take your Barrett. Mike, Stan, do the radio check. Everybody else, take your weapons and two changes, we don’t know how long we’re staying.”

“Hey, what– what’s happening?”Adrian asked, as everyone rushed to do what Bill requested.

The Barrett was Eddie’s sniper rifle, Adrian had never seen that in action, and they had never needed radios before. This had to be serious business.

“There’s someone in New York that has been targeting all mob bosses the last few days. The police keeps finding these men they have been chasing for months dead in empty buildings with a bullet in their brains,” said Bill, his fingers fidgeting with one of the guns. 

“So we’re going after this… group? Person? That just does exactly the same thing that we do? Why?”

Bill stopped his fidgeting for a moment and finally looked at him. “What?”

“Yeah, you know, killing the bad guys. That’s what we do, why is it suddenly bad?”

“Because,” Ben interrupted patiently, his now full bag on his lap and his bayonet leaning on the wall next to him, “we want to stop them because they’re bad. We know what we do and why we’re doing it. When someone else does it it’s always because they’re a bigger fish and want their way cleaned up before running into business. They end up being even worse than the ones they wiped off.”

“Couldn’t it be just another superhero, though?”

Adrian heard someone snort. He tilted his head back and saw Mike smiling at him. “I’m sorry new kid, superheroes don’t exist.”

Adrian looked at him like he’d just grown a second head. 

“What?”

“You mean… they don’t exist _beside_ us, right?”

“ _What_?” that was Richie’s turn to intervene, he looked shocked. Eddie was looking at him in amusement. “We’re not… we…”

“Well, we have superpowers and we fight the evil plans. It’s literally what superheroes do.”

“We are _immortals_. It’s different from having superpowers,” Richie said with a frown.

“New kid has a point though,” said Beverly, “it’s unarguably a ‘power’ because it’s a useful thing we have and I’d call it ‘super’ since we’re the only ones to have it.”

“Thank you Beverly. That’s why you’re my favourite,” Adrian said, getting comfier on his chair. 

“But that’s… that’s not-” Richie looked at a loss of words. “That isn’t how superpowers work! Laser eyes are a superpower, invisibility is a superpower, not… _not dying._ ”

“Is Wolverine not a superhero then?” Beverly asked, clearly amused. Adrian looked at her with a grin and she winked.

“That’s a totally different thing, Wolverine… Wolverine is… this has nothing to do with-” but he couldn’t finish his sentence, Eddie had covered his mouth with his hand, shutting him up.

“Shush, Rich,” he said, and Richie glared at him. “Forgive him, new kid. He’s just mad because you have a point and he wasn’t the first to realise it. That little mind of his now is all _If I were a superhero I’d know it, right? I would have noticed by now._ Once it’ll pass he’ll be thrilled.”

Adrian opened his mouth to say something else when Stan said “ _Bill._ ”

Bill looked at him with a half smile. That was Stan’s _please end my suffering_ look, a look he had perfectioned in hundreds of years. 

Everybody always listened to Bill, and Bill of course listened to everyone’s opinions and needs like every good leader would, but not like he listened to Stan. His second in command was always the one Bill listened to the most, indulging Stan just like the others indulged him.

“Okay, enough with the small talks. Let’s get going,” Bill said, standing up and taking his Dane Axe with one hand and the bag with the guns in the other. “Ben, you’re driving today.”

“À vos ordres, boss,” _at your service, boss._

“Wait, Billy?” Mike asked, before anyone could start going.

“What?”

“What do you say? We’re superheroes or not?”

Everybody was looking at him expectantly. He made a small shrug and said “Only if I get to be Thor.”

Richie and Eddie were getting out as well, and Adrian heard Richie mutter “I thought you were always on my side.”

“This _is_ your side, you silly. You just haven’t accepted it yet.”

“Oh come on…”

The drive to the Big Apple was mostly quiet. Ben, Bev, Adrian and Bill in one of their cars and Mike, Stan, Eddie and Richie in the other. They had two small city cars, Mike’s truck, and a motorbike usually used by Bill and Bev, sometimes Stan when he felt like doing it.

As Ben drove, Bev’s hand on his thigh, Bill kept looking out of the car window, watching the raindrops running on the glass with a dreadful expression. Every time it rained his eyes darkened and he talked even less than he used to. 

Adrian looked at him not even knowing what to say. The others had explained to him there was nothing he could do to help him, nobody could, but he still felt the need to try something - anything.

He took his phone from his pocket and sent a quick text to Don.

_Headed to NYC. Haven’t been there in a while._

_We have to take down some mob bosses, sounds rad._

_We even have radios and a sniper rifle!!_

_I’ll keep you updated._

_Ily_

The reply popped up instantly on the screen.

**_I’ll never get used to it, will I?_ **

**_Be careful._ **

_Because you’re boring love._

_Besides, nothing can happen to me, you know this._

**_Yeah, tell that to that Georgie guy._ **

_You won’t get rid of me that easily babe_ 👀

**_Text me once in a while if you can, okay? I’d feel better._ **

**_I love you_ **

_Love you too_ 🥰

 **_Ttyl_ **❤️

Adrian smiled and put his phone back in his pocket. Don had been his boyfriend for a few years now, they had met in College at a party and something clicked instantly between them. 

A few months earlier they were having a dumb date at Derry’s Summer Fair and a group of assholes had seen them kissing and decided that couldn’t do it. The assholes followed them and started harassing them, and when they had pushed Don Adrian had snapped. They had beaten him up holding Don still and killed him with fists and kicks in front of his boyfriend’s eyes. 

Then, he had come back to life.

That’s how he discovered he couldn’t die permanently and, most important, that’s how the Losers Club had found him. They were a group of immortals that fought for what they thought was right. They had broken him out of the morgue, offered him a home, and helped him explain what happened to his boyfriend. He was part of the team now, and he enjoyed fighting with them most of the times, even if he still occasionally got killed on mission and he hated it. Resurrecting was messy, painful and annoying.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head on the car window, listening to the rain drops, the sound of the wheels on the asphalt and some occasional french words exchanged by Ben and Bev on the front seats. Ben’s drive was fast but steady and in a few minutes he fell asleep.

_An empty building, armed guards, a man tied to a chair in the middle of the room. Then one hand, probably his own even if it looked different, smoother, entered his line of vision, holding the man at gunpoint._

_“My people will find you. They will kill you. We’re the oldest family in the business here in town. You don’t know what you’re putting yourself into.”_

_“Oh,” a young voice said, “I would like to see them try. And I could not care less about thy business.”_

_“What-”_

_“Do not take this personally, sir. I do not despise thee and thou shall not resent me. May thy soul join the Valhalla, for thee died a hero. I only have to find my brother l, who left me alone on my path on earth.”_

_“Wait, please, I-”_

_The man’s head bloomed red and a gunshot rang in his ears._

Adrian jolted awake with a gasp and every head turned to look at him, Ben looking up briefly from the road to glance at the rearview mirror. 

“What’s wrong new kid?” Bev asked in concern.

“Sorry, just a bad dream, that’s all.”

Bill was looking at him like someone had just stabbed him through the chest all the way to his heart.

“Not him,” he added as fast as he could, “it wasn’t the Ocean. It was something about mob bosses and a dude that talked weird, I am probably just worried for the mission and my brain made this shit up. Nothing too bad, I swear, just a regular human nightmare, that’s all.”

Bill’s eyes widened in relief for a moment, but he still looked hurt. He didn’t say a word more, his eyes quickly going back to the window.

“Oh New Kid, you don’t have anything to worry about. We’ll take care of you, I bet you’re not going to die more than twice, three times at its worst!” said Ben with a faint smile.

“Yeah, we’ll take care of you, youngling. Don’t be afraid.”

“I know,” Adrian said, shrugging. “It’s probably Don’s fault, he was a bit anxious on the phone earlier.”

When they arrived in town they immediately headed to one the headquarters of what they knew was the most old and important mob family in that side of town. It was in a huge industrial area in the suburbs, and they parked one block away in an underground garage. 

Adrian saw someone jump off the car with a hoodie up that covered most of his face, Adrian didn’t recognise him at first. The person held his rifle up and with firm hands shot six bullets at the corners of the room, fast and smooth. 

When he turned to face them and made them a thumbs up his hoodie fell and Adrian recognised Eddie. 

_Of course,_ he thought. Eddie had been a sharpshooter for the German Army in War World One before his first death, one of the best in the Army, and he was their usual sniper on missions. 

Once the way was clear everyone got out of the cars, taking the bags with the guns with them. 

Adrian had his Glock G19, he wasn’t too familiar with it, but he couldn’t hold a sword to save his life and this was the only weapon he somehow understood how it worked. 

Eddie kept his Barret in hand and Richie put a gun in his back pocket while carrying one of the bags. Bev was making sure her colt was loaded, Stanley had his Kilij hanging on his hip from his belt and Bill was holding his Dane Axe from the old days with both hands. Ben and Mike were both carrying the other two bags full of guns, their bayonet and musket secured on their backs.

There were a few slamming sounds of the car doors closed shut then Bill nodded briefly and everyone followed. Adrian was feeling almost tipsy, his head felt unusually light and everything was brighter and louder than it should have been. It was adrenaline, the fact that this was his first important mission, everyone’s presence at the same time, it was thrilling and addictive. 

They went out on the street and walked fast and silent. It was a Sunday and the factories and office buildings were closed, the streets empty. Everything was grey and wet, but Bill’s clear eyes didn’t look lost now, they looked focused and burning. 

Mike approached the building they had to break in, shot twice at the handle and slammed the door open with his shoulder, the musket still firm in his hands. 

Eddie stayed a few feet behind them, covering their backs while they got in, making sure no one was inside, then Ben covered him as he snuck in with them. His eyes found Richie’s as they silently checked on one another like they always did on mission, his shoulders relaxing slightly as he saw him.

As soon as Adrian’s eyes focused on his surroundings he tensed. He remembered the place. He remembered the floor tiles, the black and white pattern with blue stripes. 

“Guys,” he whispered. “Guys, I think we have a problem.” 

Stanley turned to face him, his brows furrowed in concern. “What’s wrong?”

“This building is the one I dreamed of when I fell asleep in the car.”

“Are you absolutely sure? Are you absolutely sure this is the building you saw in your dream?” Bill asked, his voice wavering.

“One hundred percent sure,” Adrian said with a small nod.

“How is it possible? We can’t predict the future,” Beverly asked, her hands fidgeting with her gun.

“What if there’s another one? Another immortal?” Ben suggested. “New kid is the only one who fell asleep, maybe we haven’t dreamed about them because we haven’t slept yet.”

“Not possible,” Stan said dryly, “it’s too soon. We had the last one months ago.”

“It’s getting sooner and sooner, Billy,” Eddie said, lowering his Barrett at last. “Between us and Bev there were sixty six years, and between Bev and new kid only forty.”

“No, this is too much. It wouldn’t make sense,” Bill said, firm.

“If this is the start of a trend the Losers’ Club will be the Losers’ Army in no time,” Richie commented.

“And there’s no one in here anyway. This place is empty, we could as well try to sleep and see what happens,” Mike said, “if the mob were still here there would be guards, and they’d have noticed us by now.”

“No,” Bill said, “we’ll check every room, we can’t leave it to chance. If someone is hiding here the person who’s making the mess is going to show up to kill them and I want to know when it happens.”

“ _Every room_?” Adrian whined, “this is a twenty stories building!”

“I hope you’re not tired, new kid,” Ben said, patting his shoulder. “We’re going to walk a lot.”

They really did check the whole building, and when they finally arrived at the last floor Adrian was sure that he was going to have a heart attack and die like an idiot, then come back to life with everyone laughing at him.

“ _Holy shit!_ ” the sudden words echoed in the empty building, and everyone turned towards Richie with a flinch. 

“Was ist los, Rich?” _what’s wrong, Rich?_ Eddie asked, looking at him to find any visible sign of distress.

“Deadpool!” Richie said, gesturing vaguely at them.

“What?” Ben asked in confusion.

“New kid was right! We _are_ superheroes. We have the exact same powers as Deadpool and we also have the same job!”

The group stayed silent for a moment.

“Richard,” Stan said, his voice unnaturally calm. “If you scare me like that for this kind of bullshit again I’m sticking my sword up your ass.”

“Mh, kinky,” Richie said with a wink. “Also, wouldn’t be the biggest I handled, right Eds?”

“Richie I swear to God I’m killing you this time!” Eddie hissed, slapping the back of his head.

Adrian highly doubted that. He had still a lot to learn about his immortal family, but one thing he knew was that they rarely killed each other, they did it only when it was extremely necessary and, most importantly, that Eddie had never killed Richie and Richie had never killed Eddie, not even once, for all the one hundred and six years they’ve been together, not even when they first met on opposite sides of a World War before their first death when their job was literally to kill one another. 

It was unlikely that Eddie was going to break this tradition now for a dick pun.

Apparently that was exactly what Richie was thinking, because he brushed off the threat and blew him a kiss. Eddie rolled his eyes but didn’t kill him. Adrian understood. He didn’t think he could ever be able to kill Don, not even if he knew his death wasn’t going to be permanent.

“Shut up everyone,” Bill’s voice came out sharp and sudden. “We still have one room left, if no one’s there we’re settling in the opposite building and guard the doors to see if someone gets inside. Bev, you go first.”

The girl nodded and stepped forward, his gun raised, and Mike pushed the door to let her sneak in. They all heard her flinch and take a sharp breath. _“Shit!”_

“If that’s another joke-” Stan started, but when he looked inside the rest of the quote died on his lips.

The lights in the room were switched off and most of the curtains were closed, it was dark, but the sun rays passing through the few open windows let in enough light to see the dead body tied down to a chair in the middle of the room, his head tilted back, a pool of blood behind him on the floor.

“That’s the man of my dream. It was him, in this room,” Adrian said, his voice weak. 

“He certainly doesn’t look immortal to me,” Ben muttered, going closer. 

Bev grabbed his arm stopping him, looking at him with the most worried look Adrian had ever seen on her.

“Everybody stay calm,” Bill said, and he sounded more controlled than before, probably because he wanted to reassure his friends. He approached the body and looked at it carefully. 

Adrian hid unconsciously behind Mike as Bill checked on the corpse, pressing two fingers on his throat to feel the pulse.

“He’s definitely dead,” he whispered, biting his lower lip. 

“What if it’s a trap? What if they’re still after us after the last time?” Stan asked.

“I don’t like this,” Richie said, his hand found Eddie’s shoulder without looking and he pulled him closer, every trace of amusement vanished from his face. “Let’s go now, I don’t want a repeat of last time. I won’t allow it.”

Then, the lights flickered on and they heard the loud crash of the door slamming shut. 

“I _hate_ this century. I _hate_ rain. And I especially _hate_ when people make me wait. As ye probably have already guessed, this have not been my favourite day so far.”

They all turned to face the sudden threat and Eddie fired his shot as he turned, already knowing where the opponent was from the sound of his voice alone. And he would have hit him. He would have hit him, if the size of the person in front of them had been the size of a grown man as he was expecting. Instead, Eddie’s bullet hit the door several inches over the head of the kid that was looking at them with a stone cold expression. 

The deadly stare and his small form looked even more absurd, considering what he was wearing. A SpongeBob hoodie, Pixar’s Cars jeans and a loaded gun on his hip.

“I think,” the kid said, glancing a brief disgusted look at the bullet hole on the door, then back at them, “that I’ve already died plenty enough for my liking lately.”

Adrian knew the kid he was looking at because he had already seen him in his dreams, drowning and drowning and drowning, night after night. And even if he didn’t, he would have guessed it anyway, because Bill made a strangled whine and immediately fell on his knees.

“Georgie,” Stan whispered, high pitched. “How-”

“What happened to children in these God forsaken times? They used to dress like adults, only with smaller sizes. I feel like an utter fool.”

Adrian felt the sudden urge to say _well, you_ _do_ _look like an utter fool too,_ but he thought it was best not to piss the kid further.

“At least thou still hast father’s axe,” he said, looking at Bill. “These new weapons are extremely efficient and yet they lack emotion. They lack soul. I am happy thou art still in the business, if I had killed all those rats only for thee to ignore my message that would have been a shame.”

Bill then said a few words Adrian didn’t understand, in a long forgotten language of a long forgotten land. 

“ _Sorry?_ Sorry is not enough, not nearly enough. Ye stopped looking. Ye left me alone to die.”

He stayed silent for a moment, then looked at the others in the room like he had just remembered their existence. “I want everyone else to leave. Now.”

No one dared to move. Everyone’s eyes were focused on Bill. 

“Go.”

“Boss, are you sure it’s-” Mike started, but Bill didn’t want to hear what was coming.

“I said _go_.”

Georgie stepped away from the door and let them slip out of the room, but when it was Stan’s turn he grabbed him suddenly. “Sroel, dear friend, thou can stay with us.”

“No, wait, Stan-” Richie said, but Eddie stopped him.

Stan nodded and they closed the door, leaving everyone outside.

Georgie brushed his fingers on Stan’s cheek and smiled. “I missed this,” he said.

“We missed you, too,” Stan said, and he was telling the truth.

Georgie looked back at Bill and stepped closer. “ _Boss,_ huh? I bet thou love that, I see thou hast been chirping merry in my absence, ye probably haven’t even noticed I was gone.”

“Georgie,” the sound that came out of Bill’s mouth was so weak and fragile that he almost didn’t even recognise himself. “I have to tell you something. I… I have to tell you something.”

The kid stepped even closer, they were only a few inches apart now. Stan closed his eyes. 

“Speak.”

“The day they took you… I told you I couldn’t bring you with us because the place we were going to didn’t accept children but-” his voice broke in an ugly sob, but he shook his head and kept talking despite the tears, “but it wasn’t the truth. I was sick of you always getting killed and everyone finding out about us and-” another sob escaped his throat, he didn’t even try to wipe off the tears with his sleeves, leaving them in the open like a fresh wound, “and I asked Stan to cover me with the lie because I didn’t want you around. It’s my fault. It’s always been my fault.”

Georgie froze for a moment still in front of him with his eyes wide, just as clear as Bill’s and as full of sorrow. “Thou lied and I died,” he whispered.

“Yes,” Bill sobbed, and the Axe fell with a loud thud on the floor and he got closer still on his knees, reaching for him and pulling his brother in a hug. “Yes. I lied and you died. I lied and you died. I lied and you died I’m so sorry…”

Georgie held him silently as Bill sobbed with the face hidden in the crook of his shoulders and started stroking Bill’s hair gently. 

“He didn’t want to give up,” Stan felt the urge to add, “I forced him to. He was heartbroken, he looked for you every day for two centuries, it was killing him, and I forced him to stop. It’s my fault, not his.”

“Thou hast only tried to protect him, I shall ever be grateful for that. That does not mean he should have stopped looking.”

Georgie held Bill tighter, then he pulled away and looked for something in his pocket. Bill looked at him and sudden understanding flashed in his eyes. He didn’t shake and his eyes didn’t waver.

Stan stopped breathing.

“Thou lied and I died,” Georgie said, then Bill tilted his head back giving him all the access he wanted. 

Georgie exhaled deeply and raised his Seax Knife. “Thou lied and I died,” he repeated, and he cut Bill’s throat open with a skilled neat movement. 

Bill let out a strangled breath and collapsed on the floor. Stan stayed perfectly still, waiting for the wound to heal, his heart racing in his chest. 

The act, so brutal and cold had a painfully bright message behind it.

Bill was old, the eldest of them, and they didn’t know how much time or how much deaths he had left. He couldn’t afford to die because for him every time could _really_ be the last.

Georgie was accepting the possibility of his brother to die and they all knew that, it was clear as day.

The kid sat down on the floor and placed Bill’s head on his lap. “I love thee, brother. So much it hurts, no matter what.” he said, to Bill’s empty eyes that couldn’t hear him. 

After a few seconds Bill’s cut closed and he gasped for air, opening his eyes.

His last day apparently hasn’t come yet.

He focused on his surroundings and immediately reached for Georgie’s face hovering over him, and Georgie’s hands grabbed his arms trying to comfort him. “Let’s go home, shall we brother?”

When they opened the door, everyone was waiting for them to show up, worried and tense. As soon as they saw Georgie smirking playfully at Stan, pushing him lightly, and Bill safe and sound behind them, everyone relaxed.

“Is that your blood Big Bill?” Bev asked, with a raised brow. 

“Yeah, it is,” he said, with no further explanation. 

“So this is the infamous Losers’ Club,” Georgie said, looking at them with the same shady yet gleeful eyes Bill had sometimes when he looked at them, like a wild animal too fond of his food to kill and eat it even if it would be easy and also convenient.

“Hey,” Beverly said, tentatively. Ben held her shoulder as to shield her from whatever was coming.

Georgie bit his lips, pensive. “New kid, attractive, lady, fool, stubborn and sensible, my pleasure. I see William adopted a few people during my absence,” he said with a smile. “Looks like my family has now become a club open to sodomites, borachios, witches and sinners in general… I love it. Also, if ye have only one bed I am the one taking it.”

“I like the guy,” Richie commented. “He’s got taste.”

Beverly giggled, elbowing Ben on the side and making him blush. Adrian couldn’t disagree with that, Ben really was attractive.

Adrian had already decided he wasn’t going to make Don come to their safehouse any time soon, his mortal boyfriend and that terrifying kid with a SpongeBob hoodie and a bloody one thousand years old viking knife in his hands that most likely had just killed his own brother had to stay as far as possible, preferably not closer than two states apart. 

“We have plenty of beds,” Bill said, as they took the stairs. “You’ll be sleeping with me. Well, only if you want.”

“My bed has enough space for the both of us, too,” Stan offered.

“Bjørn’s room will be ideal. I will personally make sure he is going to sleep on the floor, where he belongs,” he said dryly.

The other Losers seemed to click immediately with the kid, joking with him and accepting him as easily as they had let Adrian into their lives. It was probably because they weren’t actually scared of anything, used as they were to ignore their survival instinct. Adrian was still new to that life, and this terrifying ancient kid made his skin crawl.

When it was time for the ride back home, there was the kid now squeezed between Adrian and Bill, Bev and Ben sometimes glancing worried looks at them from the front seats. Adrian was updating Don about the current turn of events, trying to write as stealthy as possible, leaning on the car doors, keeping his phone close to his body and rambling about the incarnation of Lucifer in Cars’ pants he had next to him. 

“What is that thing?” little Lucifer asked, and Adrian’s heart missed a beat. “I have seen a lot of people using those since I set foot on land again, but I have yet to understand their true nature.”

Adrian closed WhatsApp in a rush to hide the conversation he was having and tried to look natural. “This? It’s just a phone. It was created to communicate with people even if they’re in a different part of the city, country, even the world. Nowadays it makes many more things, it could have whole books in it, you can ask it questions, it can show you directions for everywhere you’re headed, and it also has a camera.”

“A what?” 

“Look, sit still,” he said, and noticed that Beverly was spying on them over her shoulder in interest. He snapped a picture quickly, Georgie looking at him with a frown and Bill lowering behind him to hide his face. “Here, that’s it. Impressive, right?”

Georgie took the phone from his hands and looked at the picture with wide eyes, clearly surprised. Even Bill, who was trying to look at him as less as possible like the mere sight of him hurted like hell, was now observing his reaction with attentive eyes, a hand carefully placed on Georgie’s thigh to feel the closeness. 

After a few long seconds, the kid scrunched his nose in disgust. “Hideous. Shallow. Demonic. Nothing but an empty shell,” he said firmly, “it could never aspire to compare to my brother’s drawings. They look bright and real and alive. This looks like a pallid imitation of my corpse.”

Adrian blinked in surprise and took his phone back. “Well, this is just a phone,” he said, a faint bitter sting in his tone. “I can assure you that photography could be-”

But the ancient kid wasn’t listening to him anymore, because Bill was handing him something he had just taken from his pocket. His notebook. The notebook nobody was allowed to touch, not even Stan. 

“Take the one you like the most,” he said, “take all of them if you want. Keep them, burn them, I don’t care. They’re yours.”

Georgie opened the notebook carefully and looked through the pages, and Adrian looked down at it leaning on him slightly, fear be damned, curiosity eating him alive.

Bill’s drawings were stunning. There was everyone of them on the pages, and he had to admit once again the words Georgie used were perfect to describe them. Bright, real and alive.

Stan with his chin resting on his hand, his eyes pensive, biting his lower lip ever so slightly; Beverly’s smile, her head tilted back and eyes squeezed shut, her soft curls almost moving on the page; Don and himself on the couch, his head on his boyfriend’s lap, Don’s arm hanging down almost brushing the floor; Ben’s kind heart eyes, wide and full of wonder, undoubtedly looking at Bev, a small fond smile on his lips; Eddie in a full military uniform, standing on a trench, candles on the ground casting long shadows and giving his face a depth Adrian had never seen on him before; a cigarette loose in Richie’s lips, so real that looked like it was about to fall off, a playful glimpse in his eyes; Mike reading on the armchair, his hand brushing the pages of the book gently, his brows up in interest and his lips a thin line as he pressed them to focus; an experimental self portrait of Bill looking forward with a stern expression, only his face and part of his shoulders, his eyes cold and distant. 

More than everything, there was him.

Georgie holding a wooden ship in his hand with an excited smile. Georgie’s face stained with blood and fire in his eyes; Georgie laying down in the woods, eyes closed, cheeks flushed for the cold and his hair wet like it was raining; hundreds of them, of details of his eyes and hands, the line of his jaw and every curl of his lips.

“Thou hast practiced, brother, these are really fine,” Georgie said, unnaturally calm, like nothing of what he saw had touched him. “Next time, instead of drawing me, try to find me before I drown for the billionth time, salt water in my lungs, dying every two minutes for more than four hundred years again and again and again, all the fibers of my body screaming in agony. That would show me thy care more effectively.”

Bill looked like he had slapped him on the face so hard it ripped the skin off his cheek. He made a move to take the notebook back, but Georgie stopped him with a glare. He looked through the pages another time, more briefly, ignoring all the drawings of himself and when he found Bill’s self portrait he ripped the page off, folding it twice and putting it in his pocket. He finally handed Bill the notebook and he took it.

“There won’t be a next time. I won’t let it happen.”

“I know,” Georgie said, like that wasn’t that big of a deal. “But thou art still sleeping on the floor.”

Then he looked at Adrian dead in the eyes and smirked. He looked like he could eat him alive and split the bones afterwards. “New kid?”

“Yeah?”

“Thou misspelled _hellspawn_ earlier, on thy phone _.”_

Adrian’s ears burned red, and Beverly’s laugh filled the car. 

Out of the window the streets of New York City disappeared as the car ran towards Maine fast and steady, the other car behind them, Mike at the steering wheel, and Ben sighed. “Finally,” he said, “we’ll be home in no time.”

**Author's Note:**

> In this house Georgie Denbrough will always have a happy ending.  
> BTW, this was the last fic that came to mind when I planned this AU, but I am really fond of the characters so I don’t want to leave it just yet! Please send your suggestions and tell me what you would like to see in this AU and I’ll try to write it if I like it! Suggestions will be much appreciated ❤️ thanks to everyone who left kudos, a comment or just read this series as I kept writing. I had real fun doing it and I like how it turned out.  
> You can leave your suggestions here or on my Tumblr, @littleturtle95 🥰


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